Strawberry Haven
by mat528
Summary: A distraught Willow finds solace in the one place she least expected: talking to a certain, platinum blond vampire.
1. Chapter 1

STRAWBERRY HAVEN

**A/N: This is a "Spillow" story I thought about. I will still stick with "Spuffy" stories primarily, but like my other story, "How the Goddess Was Won", I just wanted to do something a little different.**

**The plot takes place in Season Six. I didn't like some of the ways the writers took things too far (like with Spike nearly raping Buffy and Willow trying to destroy the world), so here is my spin on things. One major change is that Willow doesn't go to Rack and get addicted to magic. Like so many of my other stories, this is an "Alternate Universes" tale.**

**Disclaimer: Joss, Twentieth Century Fox, and other subsidiaries own the whole Magillicuddy. I'm just playing, and I will return the characters when I am done. This story is for a different spin on things, and is not intended to plagiarize.**

CHAPTER ONE

Willow Rosenberg stared at the empty room in Tara's sometime residence, her eyes widening with the shock of her friend and lover's departure. She had known that the blonde witch was angry with Willow for using magic to bend things to her will, but somehow, she'd thought that the rift between her and Tara would blow over soon. She never expected Tara to leave.

The red headed witch saw the note on the bed suddenly and picked it up. A glance at it confirmed that Tara had left to "have some space", and she didn't know when she'd be back in Sunnydale, or if she would return. Willow's face scrunched up in anger. She willed the note to burn, watching as the flames caught in the air and then evaporated.

The Wicca considered using a spell to locate Tara, but she banked down her desire. Her interference would not be appreciated, she knew, since that was the reason for Tara's leaving in the first place. She pulled out her cell phone and called her best friend (or at least, she hoped Buffy still was after all that had happened between them when the witch had pulled the Slayer out of Heaven.)

"Hello?" Buffy's voice came on the line.

"Hey…" Willow greeted softly. She heard a stilted sounding "hey" from Buffy.

"How are you?" Willow managed to get out. There was another pause.

"OK," Buffy told the titian haired young woman. Then, the Slayer amended, "well, not really, but I'm getting there. Did you want something?"

The less-than-warm response didn't take Willow by surprise, but she was hurt by Buffy's curtness. Willow tried to manage a happy voice.

"Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, a-and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get some coffee at the _Expresso Pump. _My treat," Willow said.

"Sorry, Willow, I can't," Buffy told her friend. Willow's pink lips curled into a frown, but she brightened a moment later as she thought about a possible reason that Buffy might not want to join her.

"Oh, the nerds are back? Or is it Spike, or some other evil?" Willow guessed. The pause on the phone spoke volumes.

"No, it's none of that," Buffy responded, "I just don't think it's a good idea, that's all."

Despite herself, and her current inner monologue not to be angry at Buffy, Willow snapped, "Oh, I get it! You don't want to be around me, right? You don't have to sky write it!"

Buffy's voice tried a soothing tone as she said, "Look, Willow, I just need space, okay?"

Willow started seeing red. What was it with her friends and lovers, lately? So, she made _one _mistake and they were shutting her out? It occurred to her to tell Buffy about the Slayer's debacles with her friends since she'd returned from death a second time, especially Spike.

The witch didn't need a figurative diagram to see the romantic drawings on the wall that the vampire and the Slayer had done. She knew from the tension between them that something was going on, from the extra cigarette butts whenever he was stressed and looks Spike threw not only at Buffy but everyone else, it was not going on in a good way.

Normally, Willow would discount the former William the Bloody as evil and not worth a second look, but she remembered how the master vampire had looked after Dawn the summer following Buffy's death. He had taken her under his wing as a mentor, and an honorary older brother, and although Willow knew the Slayer's younger sister could be impressionable, the red head also knew that it took more than just a crush to win Dawn's loyalty and trust.

"Will?" Buffy's voice asked, "you still there?"

"Yeah," Willow responded.

"I have to go," Buffy's voice said, as she thought _don't try to call me. I can't deal, all right? _But the Slayer knew the expressing of that thought would hurt too much, so she muttered a quick "good bye" and hung up. Willow let the phone drop softly as she considered her options.

She could try Xander, but he'd probably blow off what had happened, particularly since he was preparing to marry Anya. Giles might be available via e-mail, but Willow wasn't looking for a lecture on the "dangers of using magic to excess", or something like that. Tara was still off limits, and anyway, Willow wasn't sure that she could deal with her girl's wide, perceptive eyes staring into her and reading her aura just then.

After putting the cell phone inside her pocket, the red head decided that maybe things would look better after a cup of mochaccino or a caramel latte. She left the abandoned apartment and headed for the _Expresso Pump._


	2. Chapter 2

STRAWBERRY HAVEN, CHAPTER TWO

**A/N: Just a quick note to say that I figured that Spike would like a soulful, earthy song, like "Piano in the Dark" since he is a romantic at heart. Another "author's note" appears at the end.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Piano...", nor am I making a profit off of any mention of the song, so please don't come after me, money wise. I also still don't own Spike, Willow, or any characters in "Buffy". **

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Willow entered the coffee shop, thankful that only a few people were in it at this time of night. The titian haired witch sat at one of its many formica counters and submitted her order for a double chocolate latte with plenty of foam when she saw a familiar face.

Spike was seated at a booth, drinking a tall mug of something or other. Her green eyes told her that, judging from the ashtray with the amount of cigarette butts she saw, he had been smoking there for quite awhile. He drank some more and lit up again.

_Maybe he wants to be alone, _Willow's mind said. She saw a flash of hurt in his expressive, blue eyes. Had his eyes _always _been that deep, that full of emotion?

Willow had always believed what Giles, Buffy, and Xander had said: that vampires were creatures that generally had no emotions, except maybe for anger or rage, fueled by the demons inside of their seemingly human looking bodies.

But, when she had been with Tara, the Wicca had seen Spike's aura. She had tried to clue Willow in on what he had been feeling for Buffy, and before that, Tara had told her about his broken heart he had been nursing ever since things had bottomed out with Drusilla.

"_His aura is blue, a very deep shade, which is melancholy," Tara had pronounced when she and Willow had been alone that night. "He tries to hide it, to cloak it behind his blackness, but it's there. He's so lonely, so sad."_

_Willow had told her, "Tara, come on. He's a vampire. They only feel one thing: hunger." The red head had thought some more, then added, "okay, maybe two or three things like anger, hunger, and lust but that's it. I mean, I've been with Spike a lot longer…"._

_Tara's grey eyes studied hers, as Willow amended, "O-okay, not __**with **__him, with him…but, I've fought him longer, and I know he doesn't have the touchy feely feelings that we have for each other, or Buffy has for Angel, or anything."_

_Tara looked at Willow sadly, then she shook her head. "I only see what I see," she said, her voice laced with pity for the vampire, and conviction for her diagnosis. _

"_He's hurting, and he's very upset and in some serious pain," she tried again. Tara would have said more, but the other Scoobies and Buffy came in to meet about the Initiative._

_Almost a year later, Dawn and Anya had also tried to convince Willow and the others about Spike's having more emotional depth._

"_Oh, do be serious!" Giles had exclaimed. "I realize that Spike sometimes has risen to our aid, particularly during the fights against Glory, but that can be simply a case of wanting to side with us since he has nowhere else to go in view of his being chipped by the Initiative."_

"_Yeah," Xander put in, "I mean, you guys really think Deadboy Junior feels anything except maybe frustration at not being able to put yours truly six feet under?"_

"_Well, I can understand his stress, since you've never given him any reason to like you," Anya chimed in. When Xander glared at her, Anya continued._

"_But he likes Dawn and Tara a lot," she finished. Some of Spike's frustration made its way to her as she saw the Scoobies simply change the subject, not even acknowledging what she had said._

"_Hey, guys!" Dawn shouted. When the other friends turned to regard Buffy's sister, she said, "Anya made a great point, and you're shitting all over her!"_

_Buffy had merely stared at her sister, saying, "don't use language like that, Dawnie! Besides, you are __**so **__clueless when it comes to Spike!"_

"_Well, being with him for at least two years hasn't exactly made you Miss Knowledgeable about him, either!" Dawn shouted, crossing her arms and turning away from the group. She had gone upstairs, not wanting to be anywhere near Buffy and her friends. Anya had flipped through one of Giles' many books he had brought to Buffy's house, her anger at never being taken seriously starting to wear thin._

"Well, I guess you wouldn't be you if you didn't follow me around, right, Red?" Spike's voice held censure in it. Willow realized that she had walked right up to his table without knowing it as her mind returned to the present.

"I-I'm not following," Willow told the vampire. "I just…I was gonna put change into the jukebox." She reached down into her denim skirt and held up a shiny, new quarter for emphasis.

"See?" she asked, jerking her head in the direction of the music machine.

Spike's look was a knowing one.

He raised his scarred brow, asking, "Which one?"

Willow's eyes fell to his lips just then. She looked at their fullness and pictured them kissing hers. Embarrassed but doing her best to hide it, she gazed at his eyes.

Oops! Spike was a hottie, no matter what feature she picked. He was smirking then, obviously happy at having caught a whiff of her desire for him.

"Huh?" Willow asked. Spike repeated the question.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, walking over to the jukebox. "Uh, which one? Which song do I want?"

"Yeah, pet," the vampire said. Willow jumped when she realized he was standing directly behind her. The red headed witch looked at the selections, which seemed to be less trendy and more stoke of the Eighties. When Willow seemed as though she was faltering, Spike's leather jacketed arm slid past hers. She heard the sound of a quarter dropping in…and, she caught a manly scent, one that was not cologne like Giles or even Xander, but that was smoke, leather, blood, and soap.

She never thought she would be enticed by _that _mix.

"Mind if I select one?" Spike asked. Willow turned around so that she faced him.

"What?" she queried. The vampire grinned.

"A song," he responded. "You seemed to be flounderin', Red, so…".

"O-Oh!" Willow yelled. She glanced back at the machine and then up at him. He towered about three inches above her. Then, not waiting for her to answer, Spike selected a song she had never heard before. It had a haunting, yet romantic melody, and the piano chords captured her mind unlike any other song she'd heard.

Spike returned to his seat on the red colored cushion, letting the melody wash over him as he hummed softly. Willow remembered how his voice had sounded when she and the Scoobies were singing involuntarily while the demon, Sweet, had been in town.

The vampire closed his eyes, singing quietly. Willow slid across from him, just letting herself listen for a moment. Spike's eyes snapped open. He looked almost shy as he glanced down, not meeting her deep, green orbs.

"That sounds great…" she breathed. "What is this song called?"

"Piano in the Dark," Spike answered. "Was written by a bird named Brenda Russell in the Eighties. One of my favorites."

Willow laughed slightly. Spike tilted his head, regarding her.

"Wha'?" he inquired, frowning slightly.

"Nothing," Willow assured him, "it's just…I thought you might pick something more…rock n' roll."

"I like a lot of different songs, Red," Spike told her. "Sex Pistols is my favorite group, but I like other things, too."

Willow found that she was extremely curious. "Like what?" she genuinely wanted to know. For some reason, it suddenly seemed natural to want to know what Spike preferred.

The vampire shrugged, taking another drink out of his cup. Willow's nose confirmed that he was drinking strong, black coffee, another thing that surprised her. All the other times she'd seen the vampire, he'd be nursing a beer or drinking Scotch. At the very least, she'd supposed, he would have drunk tea, since he was English.

"Dunno," he said. "I s'pose I like most tunes from the Big Era."

"Big Era…?" Willow asked, confused.

Spike clarified by saying, "The Eighties, pet. Was the biggest decade of music followin' the Sixties. More groups crashed n' burned than any other, an' there were more hits, too. The music in the Bronze can' touch _those _artists."

He got up suddenly, saying, "Dance with me."

Willow stared at him for a long moment as the song was reaching its middle. "D-dance with you?" she asked, looking around. "In front of all these people?"

Spike looked around. Besides the young pup who'd brought him his coffee, there were only three other diners in the _Expresso Pump. _They were totally engrossed in a serious discussion, and seemed oblivious to either the music or the other signs of life and unlife around them.

"Yeh, Red," Spike prompted again, using his vampire strength to pull her from her seat.

He added, "unless you're too high-an'-mighty to be seen with someone like me."

Willow felt a little guilty. She and her friends _had _given Spike that impression on many an occasion, and, having gotten to know him better now, she felt reprehensible. The witch decided that, despite his not having a soul, he wasn't such a bad guy.

_Besides, _she thought, _what can one little dance hurt? It's not like he can harm you, anyway._

Her mind made up, she let him spin her around, as the piano player in the song touched the ivories. Spike leaned in close, breathing her strawberry essence. When he had been human, the future master vampire had loved strawberries as a kid. Willow's sweet scent made him think about a time that had been buried in his mind for far too long. He had often gone to his mum's strawberry patch in her garden to taste the succulent berry, and he had always liked the color red.

"That your natural color?" he asked into Willow's ear.

"My natural color?" she asked. Realizing he meant her hair, she said, "Yeah! I get it from my mother. Her hair is kinda carrot topped, but it looks good on her."

He studied her round face, her hair, and her eyes just then. Buffy had colored her hair, he knew. He always caught a scent of the dye she used. Of course, he had, too. Spike wondered just then what Willow would think if he went back to being a mousy brown, like he had been when he'd been William. She probably would fancy it.

"Remind me to thank her for givin' you that color," he said. Willow smiled. Oz had liked her hair, too, and he'd paid her complements in his usual, stoic sort of way. Tara was shy, and she'd not really commented on her girlfriend's hair.

Willow found herself confessing, "actually, I always wanted to be a blonde. Sort of like Marilyn or even Buffy."

Spike looked at her again, murmuring, "Dunno why you'd want to change, Red. Blonde wouldn't look too good on you. Would wash you out with your pale colorin', I'd reckon."

They split apart as the song ended. Spike paid for his coffee; Willow got her double chocolate latte to go. Both vampire and young woman left the coffee shop together, though they didn't hold hands. Reluctantly, Spike turned to go in the opposite direction toward his crypt. Willow's voice stopped him.

"Uh, do you have to go home?" she asked, hoping that the look in her eyes didn't give her away.

The Wicca had liked Spike's dancing with her. She'd liked it a lot, and not just because she had wanted someone to pay attention to her without unloading his or her emotional baggage all over her, but because she genuinely liked _him._

Spike turned back, saying sarcastically, "I gotta go home. I live there. 'Sides, the Slayer is probably watching with her sense an' all. Wouldn't do to be seen walkin' with me, actually havin' a good time, now would it?"

"I don't _care _what they think," Willow said, reaching out to pull on his arm. When Spike stared at her, she said with more force, _"I don't. _I'm tired of what everyone else thinks, or them avoiding me like I've got magic cooties, or something!_"_

"'S not like they c'n avoid feeling that way, pet," Spike told her. "You screwed up, royally." When Willow's eyes narrowed slightly, the vampire went on despite feeling a moment's fear that she could do something to him with her magic.

"You did," he said. "You didn't check to see where Buffy was before yankin' her out o' her warm, comfortable paradise, now did you? I know you meant well, bu' if I'd have been consulted, I would have told you it was a bad plan from start to finish."

"Really?" Willow said, finding out another thing about Spike. She'd thought that, after declaring love for Buffy, he would do anything to get her back. But he had just confirmed that he would set her free forever out of true love for her if it meant that she would be happy, and that her sacrifice for Dawn and the world wouldn't be in vain.

That kind of love was so touching, so endearing, that Willow felt a moment's stirring of jealousy. No one, not even Tara, had ever loved her that deeply, that completely.

She found herself lacking beside this obviously perfect man who was, all of a sudden, too good for her or her best friend. "Well, who asked for your opinion?" she murmured, wishing she could take the words back as soon as she saw the vampire's angry expression.

"We back to that, Red?" Spike spat out caustically. "Ol' Spike's opinion's too honest, an' of course, we can't _have_ honesty, now can we? That'd hurt too much!" He walked away from her, spinning on her when she followed.

"Always has been your problem, hasn't it?!" he accused. "You, the Slayer, an' all the Scoobies, with the exception o' the Bit and Demon Girl. Anytime one o' us says anything about your true secrets or feelin's, you shut up or change the subject real quick, don't you?"

He didn't wait to see her reaction as he continued. "That's the real thing that's eatin' away at you, Red, isn't it? You can't admit to Buffy that you an' the others were wrong! Can't even apologize good an' proper, can you? An' the Slayer! Oh, what a piece o' work _she _is!" he was shouting. "She doesn't want to rail at how brassed she is about what you all did. Just lets it fester, turnin' her inside out, making her go on me, an Nibblet, an even Anya for letting her see what she truly feels but doesn't want to talk about?!"

Willow could feel her eyes darkening. How _dare _he tell her how things were? How _could _he make her feel anger and rage again after all Tara and the others had done? He had no right! He couldn't even feel! How could he reach down inside and expose her like this?

Spike was walking away, not wanting to be anywhere near Willow. But she wouldn't have any of that as her hands started glowing.

"_Stop!_" She commanded. Spike turned around again, but his look wasn't angry anymore. It was the resigned look of an animal that had been wounded one too many times.

"What'll you do if I don't, Red?" he asked in a bitter voice. "Blast me until I'm dust? Or maybe jus' put me in hospital wi' near fatal injuries? Here's a personal favorite: will you work your mojo to make me be in a coma so that I have nightmares for the rest of my existence?"

Willow felt her magic subsiding. She lowered her hands as somewhere, deep inside, she admitted that Spike was right. All he'd done was be honest, not only about her, but Angel, Buffy, and everyone who was too frightened to step up to the emotional plate themselves.

"Spike," she responded, "you're right." The vampire gazed at her, wondering if this was a clever dream, or something magic worked by her. But, he didn't feel like he'd been hexed, and Willow's eyes were their beautiful, vibrant green.

"I…" she faltered. "We treated you badly. A-and, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't walk me home tonight or never spoke to me again." Spike's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her. He still wanted to be sure Willow was being sincere.

He glanced upward toward the night sky so that she wouldn't see a tear of gratitude. Here was the crumb of decency he had asked Buffy for so often that the Slayer had not seen fit to grant. The vampire had thought that maybe Glenda or Nibblet or even Demon Girl would be the first ones to lay the bits at his door. Who would've thought Red would be the winner?

He looked back down at her, saying, "Yeh, well…even with your powers, you still are a young girl, an' it wouldn't do if I didn't see you home safely, now would it?"

Willow smiled, linking her hand in his. Spike waggled a finger in her direction like a Professor trying to make a student see his point.

"Bu', don't think I'm gonna be this easy on you tomorrow, Red," he told the witch. Holding hands, they started to go toward Buffy's house when Willow tugged on his sleeve.

"You know what?" she asked. "I don't want to go home just yet."

"You don't?" Spike responded with a question.

"I like being with you," Willow replied honestly, "and I don't want this evening to end. Is it okay if we watch something on your television set?"

Spike thought about her request for a brief moment, then decided that he didn't want this evening to end on a bad note, either. He knew Buffy would be patrolling anyway, and that the others would more than likely be helping her, so Willow would probably talk to them tomorrow, _if _she had taken Spike's comments to heart.

"Sure, Red," he said, steering them in the direction of his crypt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anya and Dawn swung by Spike's crypt after the latest meeting. Buffy had been distant, but she had finally gone out to patrol. Xander had opted to go with her, while the former vengeance demon and former key offered to do research. The girl and young woman decided after being left alone to bring Spike some blood, and to get his help in looking for the latest enemy.

When they both swung the door open, the sight they beheld had Anya grinning and Dawn's mouth hitting the floor.

Spike was asleep on his couch in front of the TV, his soft sounds of contented sleep drifting toward the ears of the two visitors. Willow was also asleep, her head resting on his shoulder, and her arm moving across his muscular, t shirted chest. Anya put the fresh pig's blood inside of his tiny refrigerator and the two friends backed out softly.

Spike slightly stirred, but then sighed as Willow snuggled closer to him.

When Anya and Dawn were outside, the former vengeance demon pronounced, "Well, I see multiple orgasms in their future!"

For once, Dawn wasn't repulsed by the image of Spike and Willow together. She silently hoped that everything would work out between the two. After all that had

happened between Willow and Tara, and Buffy and Spike, the titian haired witch and the master vampire could use some inner peace.

Seeing a shooting star out of the corner of her eye, the Slayer's sister made a wish for her honorary big brother and her friend. She walked home with Anya, feeling that for the first time, things might actually be fantastic in the Hellmouth cursed town.

THE END

**A/N: I had planned to make a little bit more romance between S & W but this seemed to be a nice place to end this. I am planning a sequel in the near future, however, which will deal with everyone else's reaction to Spike and Willow's growing closer. For now, though…Happy New Year!**


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